As creative economies continue to grow across the globe, many cities and states are realizing the value of dedicating time to researching and evaluating the health of their own creative economies and comparing them to cities of similar sizes and demographics. Data produced by platforms like CVSuite enable cities and states to regularly measure the size, growth, profile, health, and overall impact of their respective creative sectors. California, Minneapolis, and Houston are among the latest to publish insights into their creative economies.

Image pulled from National League of Cities, “How Cities Can Grow the Maker Movement.”

The maker movement is described by Brooks Rainwater in How the Maker Movement Is Revitalizing Industry in American Cities as, “the platform for today’s artisans to create, craft and develop leading ideas and products.” Rainwater makes the case that the maker movement is beneficial for the economy in his article, stating, “From Rust Belt cities like Pittsburgh to rugged-outdoors towns like Burlington, Vermont, the maker movement is providing localities a framework for unlocking growth and engaging citizens.”

The Creative Vitality Suite launches new industry and occupation codes on August 26th. The new codes will enable users to explore the impact of culinary arts and restoration/construction in the creative economy.

Our vision for the CVSuite blog is that it serve as a place to present original material. Now and again; however, an item comes to our attention that we think is important to share. Such is the case with the piece presented here. It was written by Andrew Taylor who published the following item in the ArtsJournal blog post Shock and ‘Eh’, on June 9, 2016. We think it is an important message and so are reprinting it here.

The City of Minneapolis has the sixth strongest creative economy in the country. We were fortunate enough to speak with Gülgün Kayim, director of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy for the City of Minneapolis. In this interview, Kayim discusses the findings of the 2015 Minneapolis Creative Vitality Index Report, how data can be leveraged to assess the strength of the city’s creative economy, and what the CVSuite™ data reveals about her city’s thriving creative economy.

On June 21st, CVSuite wrapped up it’s Art of Data, 3 part webinar series. In the final webinar, Presenting Data: Crafting Compelling Stories with Data, Arts Consultant, Chris D’Arcy and Nicole Stephan of the CVSuite team discussed five aspects of effectively presenting data:

Define an Objective

Audience Type

Craft a Narrative

Select Data & Visuals

Produce & Share Materials

In the recent post Data Storytelling: What It Is, Why It Matters, Lisa Morgan provides more insight into topics covered in Presenting Data. After interviewing experts in data science and analytics, Morgan developed the following four tips to guide your data storytelling:

As Britain prepares to go to the polls in the decisive EU referendum, there are many factors for British citizens to consider when votes are cast on June 23rd. Immigration, the economy, education, the environment, national security, as well as defense are all issues being debated by both sides of the argument surrounding Britain’s possible exit from the European Union, often referred to as the Brexit.

On March 29th, CVSuite kicked off it’s three part webinar series, Art of Data. The third in the series, Presenting Data aired on June 21st. Nicole Stephan, CVSuite director at WESTAF reviews methods for visualizing and distributing data, with Oregon-based arts and culture consultant Chris D’Arcy talking about crafting narratives. Key takeaways for the webinar are:

Presenting to specific audiences

Using qualitative and quantitative data

Best practices for narratives and visuals

The live webinar was recorded and is available for viewing if you missed the event. The slidedeck is below:

Paul Nguyen is the WESTAF’s Data Specialist. His primary responsibility is to manage the flow of data from outside sources into the CVSuite data tool. As you can see below, his work is much more than a “plug-and-play” type of activity. In this blog, Paul answers a few questions about his work. His answers should provide some insights to users of CVSuite data.

PRESENTING DATA

Crafting Compelling Stories with Data

Our third webinar in the Art of Data series delves into best practices for presenting data. We will review case studies, how to present to different audiences, and show how organizations tell their story with data. CVSuite’s Lead designer Nicole Stephan of WESTAF partners with Oregon-based arts and culture consultant Chris D’Arcy to review best practices of creating visuals and narratives with data.